This undated photo provided by the Mendocino County Sheriff's Department, shows Gene Penaflor. Penaflor, a 72-year-old hunter, was rescued Saturday after 19 days in a Northern California forest. / AP

by William M. Welch, USA TODAY

by William M. Welch, USA TODAY

A 72-year-old hunter is in good condition after spending 19 days lost in a northern California wilderness, where he survived on squirrels and coped with freezing temperatures, snow and rain, his family said Monday.

Gene Penaflor was found Saturday when a group of hunters reported finding him yelling for help at the bottom of a canyon in the Yuki Wilderness area of the Mendocino National Forest.

He had been missing since Sept. 24, when his hunting partner reported that Penaflor had disappeared while they were hunting deer.

He said his father, a retired hotel worker from San Francisco, did not want to be interviewed.

"Right now he's fatigued,'' Gale Penaflor said.

The Mendocino County Sheriff's office launched a search Sept. 26, after a delay caused by confusion over whether the search area was in Mendocino or Lake counties, the Mendocino sheriff's office said in an incident report.

The search, in an area ranging from 5,000 to 6,200 feet above sea level, was called off after four days "due to no clues being found to suggest the whereabouts of Gene and due to a significant incoming storm,'' the sheriff's statement said.

The search was reactivated Saturday, when hunters reported to authorities that they were hearing calls for help from someone in distress.

The hunters eventually found Penaflor, rendered aid and rigged a stretcher from coats and tree limbs, carrying him up a steep hillside toward the approaching rescue teams. He was taken by helicopter to Ukiah Valley Medical Center, where he was released after treatment.

"He spent a total of 19 days lost in the Yuki Wilderness area,'' the sheriff's report said. "During this time it snowed numerous times. Temperatures ranged between 25 and 70 degrees.''

The sheriff's report said Penaflor was 3.25 miles from the point where he had last been seen by his hunting partner. He told rescuers he had walked farther than he had planned, and on that first day fell and struck his head, leaving him unconscious for an undetermined time.

"When he awoke, he was disoriented, and a thick bank of fog had enveloped him,'' the sheriff's report said.

"He was able to make a fire and warm himself with leaves and grasses that he packed around his body,'' the report said. "On days when it rained or snowed, he was able to crawl under a large log to stay dry.''

"He was able to kill and eat several squirrels in the area, and there was plenty of water in a nearby drainage to sustain himself.''

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